Did I just take a Pimphand from Carl’s Jr?
February 26, 2008 by Rene GubeDear Touchblue Familia,
Circle up, Guys and Gals… really lean in on this one. We need a team huddle. Stat.
It has been brought to my attention that Carl’s Jr. is currently running a commercial for their chili cheeseburger that is strikingly similar to our sketch, “Knight School.” Before I say anything more, take a look at the videos… and judge for yourself:
Here is the Carl’s Jr Ad, which premiered during the Academy Awards last Sunday, entitled “Did I Get It?”:
Now here is “Knight School” (a sketch that we shot & posted to the web in April 2005):
Have I been plagiarized? What do you think? Personally, I’m not comfortable saying that I have been outright stolen from. I understand that this kind of parallel thinking can exist when dealing with messy treats. It would be unfair for me to suppose that no one else on this planet could arrive upon the same comedic conclusions as mine. That’s just silly.
But.
I will say… that when I first saw the ad, I felt like pile-driving something.
Two days later, my top buckle instincts have subsided… and it’s now time to begin the healing slash revenge process. Any ideas? Hollerback.
**UPDATE
The situation is up on Digg.com… check out the article, and let’s Digg this thing up:
http://digg.com/television/Newest_Carl_s_Jr_Commercial_was_ripped_off_Videos
February 27, 2008 at 2:56 am |
Wow! That can’t be a coincidence.. I would straight take some legal action! Down with Carl’s Jr!
February 27, 2008 at 10:58 am |
Looks the coverage is spreading: http://www.angryasianman.com/2008/02/touchblue-vs-carls-jr.html
February 27, 2008 at 11:00 am |
^^^ Looks *like…
February 27, 2008 at 11:41 am |
Actually, after I watched this yesterday and compared ALL the similarities, I went over to Carl’s Jr.com (or whatever their domain is) and there is a link at the bottom of the homepage “Contact Us”. There’s also a link that you can complain about their advertising. Unless you have ALL your TouchBlue fans comment on this coincidence, that’s the only ruthless thing I can come up with. Haha. I love you guys!
February 27, 2008 at 4:51 pm |
Lets take a moment and be serious here. The thought of you even thinking about suing Carl’s Jr. is a joke. I’ve had a chance to look at both videos and in no way is it the same. It would be a different story if your video was also at a gym…with both characters eating fries and a chili burger…but it not…so move on. I know you’re a very creative person. I’ve seen your work on Touchblue and its pretty cool. But this nonsense has to stop.
February 27, 2008 at 5:13 pm |
Are you kidding me?!
After watching both of these, even the tone in which the characters are speaking and the dialogue itself are very very similar. All Carl’s Jr. did was change the setting, one gender of the characters, and the subject of the meaningless banter from Knight School to a School dance. All the rest is the same.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were members from their “creative” department who watch these youtube videos that people put up for “inspiration” but really just change a few things and present it to their company.
Corporate advertisers suck and that burger looks nasty anyway.
February 28, 2008 at 12:28 am |
I was waiting for the reveal from CJ with a big burger CG’d onto the guy’s face, and it was a total let-down. They really f’d it up in my opinion if they stole it, which appears highly probable. Rene, go watch the Red Shoes by Michael Powell, I think you will feel a bond with the struggling composer who gets his work plagiarized by his world famous mentor. The talent shall rise and be recognized (Steve 11:27).
February 29, 2008 at 5:37 pm |
dude… MAJOR update at FOBBDeep: http://fobbdeep.com/?p=300
there’s been an investigation into this!!!
March 1, 2008 at 9:00 am |
KArl Jr. is right but about what the characters are eating nor does the location of the scene took place matter.
honestly, i think they’re two different cm’s. just that the concept is similar but that’s it.
March 4, 2008 at 1:09 am |
wizzeaak!
March 4, 2008 at 9:27 am |
Well, having been a corporate marketing director myself, I will say this: There is no doubt that these guys look to other people/places for inspiration. Honestly, how many ideas about selling a hamburger could you possible come up with on your own? Maybe they really did jack your skit.
My suggestion is be a little more “glass is half full” about it. There’s obviously nothing you can do, the commercial is nowhere near close enough to represent a decent lawsuit. Just be stoked that your material is obviously good enough for a multi-million dollar ad campaign and keep making good and fresh material. Eventually itw ill come back to you.
Side note: I used to have a partially completed screenplay where one of the main characters suffered from short term memory loss. Then Finding Nemo came out. I’m sure Pixar read my stuff and stole it. Jerks.
March 4, 2008 at 7:02 pm |
One more thing, you could probably get back at them by having a hot chick wash a car in one of your sketches… Paris Hilton style…
March 8, 2008 at 8:09 pm |
i immediately thought of “Knight School” and came to check out Touchblue.net to see if i was the only one. i do think it is way to similar to be coincidence. i too felt robbed when i thought up man cleavage, and a couple years later MAD Tv was doing a sketch called “Balls Out Jeans”. only difference is i didnt publish my ideas. get revenge!
March 13, 2008 at 10:21 pm |
it has it’s similarities for sure…but….BUT…question is…is there anything you can do about it??? if your looking for compensation….what form of it are you actually looking for? pera? a sudden cut from the tele? free carl’s jr 24/7? b/c to tell you the truth…i think you need to burn one of them carl’s jr’s down to let em know what you want. if u want to go to the extreme then you should do a sit-in in one & make your demands! hunt down the guy that thought of the commercial and tell him/her you’ll see his/her ass in court! and if that doesn’t work…you should just never eat carl’s jr ever again. good luck guys!
March 13, 2008 at 10:55 pm |
The two sketches do look similar, but there is something that Knight School has that the Carl’s Jr. sketch doesn’t have: The ability to make people that watch it laugh!
The Carl’s Jr. sketch just didn’t do it for me. Besides, that burger looked terrible.
March 25, 2008 at 10:12 am |
that was totally plagerized.. the only difference being he didn’t have a huge chicken taped to the side of his head..
May 23, 2008 at 7:32 am |
Similarities are uncanny. Your video cracked me up more, though. Especially because the chicken doesn’t look like vomit on the side of your face.
January 9, 2009 at 7:21 am |
I totally agree with you guys.. I mean, come on the rest of your videos are amazingly created, why WOULDN’T they copy you. (and by copy I mean barrow your idea w/o credit to you)
so i guess.. congrats for coming up with this great idea that Carl’s Jr. also enjoyed :]
p.s. Hurry and get some more videos..